


And Yet

by pnsyblltrx



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: But whose?, F/M, Time Travel, somewhat angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:29:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29034702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pnsyblltrx/pseuds/pnsyblltrx
Summary: Because honestly, nothing ever goes to plan.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Tom Riddle
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	And Yet

Some might say that it was an easy decision. He was _Lord Voldemort_. That was enough of a reason to do it. But how could she?

Yes, of course, that had been the original plan, the goal. It was not safe to meddle with time, it was a very dangerous thing to do, everyone knew that. But, it was not her fault. It wasn't like she had sent herself back. She did not put the Time Tuner on and the spin it a multitude of times so that she could back to this time. And yet, here she was. With Tom Riddle, at Hogwarts, as a fifth year. Because, of course, that was what happened when you are sent back and land - somehow - in Professor Dumbledore's office. That was what he was now, the Transfiguration professor, and a seemingly great one at that.

One minute she was in the Department of Mysteries, fighting, trying valiantly and what seemed to be endlessly, to survive and help Harry survive with the Prophecy intact and away from Voldemort. And yet, somehow, a Death Eater had chased her into the time room, where there were multiple shelves and rows of time turners, all with different colored sand, and different sizes. And somehow, he had managed to blow the entire shelf up the second that she was running passed them so that all of the time sand would envelop her.

One second she was running, and the next second she was experiencing a tightness. It was something akin to what she imagined apparition would be like. She was sucked into a straw, and she was falling, and falling, and falling, until she hit the cold stone floor of Professor Dumbledore's office.

She did not know what story he had told Headmaster Dippet, but the next thing she knew she was placed in Gryffindor tower with the other fifth year girls, with clothes of this time, a schedule, and a small stipend of money.

For the first few weeks, her plan was to exist. To do absolutely nothing worthwhile so that she could preserve the timeline, and change nothing. Because bad things happened to people who messed with time. However, that changed after she had a special run in with Riddle.

She had talked to him before, not much, but he was a Prefect, and put on what was clearly a facade of being very helpful. He had asked her about how she was settling in, and let her know that _if you need anything, anything at all, you can, of course, come to me and I will do what I can to help._ He was in a few of her classes as well, because while she wanted to remain unremarkable, she was not going to throw away a chance of an education, and he had offered her help again, with studying or catching up with her classes.

She had been in the library, looking through the Restricted Section for anything she could find on time magic. And, of course, he had to catch her there. It was after hours, _and as a Prefect, it is my duty to ensure that all students are in their common rooms by curfew._

And then he had caught a glimpse of the title of the book she was _still holding._ He hadn’t said anything but she knew, _she knew_ , what he was going to do next, once he realized that she had a deeply rooted, personal _need_ to figure out everything she could about time magic.

He was going to figure out _when_ she was from and realize that she knew more than what she put on.

And then, how long until he realized _she wasn’t going to tell him anything._

That was when she put an adjustment into the plan.

She was not only going to change time, she was going to completely obliterate the timeline that she knew.

She just had to kill Tom Riddle first.

With that resolution in mind, she started training, preparing, doing what she could so that she could become strong, more powerful than him. It started with research, reading what she could, learning all of the spells she could fine in the Hogwarts library. Then it turned into asking the Defense professor for dueling practice, acting as if she planned to join the Aurors or something similar so that she could train and practice.

And for a few months, it went well. She knew she was getting better. But then, _but then, it happened._

She didn’t know how or why or _why_ it had happened. She knew when it started, she wasn’t a fool.

He had figured out that she wasn’t from this time, knew what would become of him, and apparently also that she would not cave under torture or duress.

And for some reason, his next course of action was to _seduce her? Get close enough to her that he could read her mind, see it all for himself?_

It had started with intense yet short glances, lingering touches, sit next to her in class, gentlemanly offers to carry her books, deep discussions arguing about Magic Theory, and the principles of combining Arithmancy, Charms, and Transfiguration.

_She wan’t a fool_. She knew what he was doing, she knew that she couldn’t fall for anything and yet-

_And yet._

There she was.

_Kissing the fifth year Prefect who was going to become Lord Voldemort._

It was hard to say who pulled out their wand first.

They were in an abandoned classroom in a rarely walked upon corridor on the fifth floor. Spell after spell was thrown, lights flashing, things breaking, neither of them saying a word.

She was sent flying into a row of desks and chair. He was pushed against a wall, his head slamming into the stone.

Down, down, down he fell, a jumbled mess on the floor.

Standing over him, wand tightly held in hand, the word on her lips. The words to fix everything, to stop him from ever murdering many, _many_ people, from ruining many, _many_ lives. Hers, her best friends, her school mates, her professors, countless others in the world.

_And yet._

_I don’t have a choice - I never have._

A twist of a wand, a green flash of light, and then everything went dark.


End file.
